Stories by @penguininja

Lord Foul's Bane

He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been outcast, unclean, a pariah. Now he was regarded as a reincarnation of the Land's greatest hero--Berek Halfhand--armed with the mystic power of White Gold. That power alone could protect the Lords of the Land from the ancient evil of Despiser, Lord Foul. Only...Covenant had no idea of how the power could be used!

Jorvik Calling

Soul Riders tells the heroic tale of four young girls who have been chosen by destiny to save the world from the ancient demon: Garnok and his band of dangerous Dark Riders. Lisa is a teenage girl who is still coming to terms with the tragic loss of her mother in a riding accident and has sworn never to go near a horse again until she met Starshine, a mysterious blue-maned steed who comes to her in dreams. New on the island of Jorvik, Lisa befriends Alex, Linda, and Anne. Under the guidance of mystical druids, they discover they each have a special bond to their horses that gives them magical powers. While trying to balance school, family, and friendships they have to figure out what it means to be a Soul Rider. They are attacked by the Dark Riders and the mysterious Mr. Sands discover that their horses are in danger. Instead of relying on their combined strength, they decide to split up on their quest to find answers and learn to fight back against their enemies. However, will it be too late before they realize their mistake?

The High Game

The High Game so-called because intelligence work seemed to rank so high above all other professions. But somehow it could be a very low game, as British Intelligence agent John Blaikie discovered. His secret meeting with an American genius of counter-espionage began and ended with the man dead in his arms, a knife hilt-deep in his back. Blaikie's subsequent escape, helped by the hot-blooded Polish girl Valda, introduced him to even more hair-raising moves in this Game without rules...

Sheltering Rain

Estranged from her mother since she ran away from her rural Irish home as a young woman, Kate swore a future oath that she’d always be a friend to her daughter, Sabine. But history has a way of repeating itself, and Kate now faces an ever-widening chasm between herself and her daughter. With Sabine about to make her own journey to Ireland to see the grandmother Kate abandoned, Kate is left wondering how they ever made it here, and what she can do to close the gap between them. For Joy, seeing her granddaughter is a dream come true. After the painful separation from Kate, she’s looking forward to having time with Sabine. Yet almost as soon as the young woman arrives, the lack of common ground between them deflates her enthusiasm. And when Sabine’s impetuous, inquisitive nature forces Joy to face long-buried secrets from her past, she realizes that perhaps it’s time to finally heal old wounds.

Daddy

Who has the key to a $350 million fortune the Nazis have sent their most brilliant operative to find? Thomas, an 11-year old boy with the mind of a genius, the cunning of a fox, and the chance of a snowball in Hell to escape...unless he is helped by one man. An American who doesn't even know he exists.

Archive 81

After Daniel Powell goes missing following employment by the Housing Historical Committee of New York State, his friend Mark Sollinger receives hundreds of hours of audio of his archiving there. The audio, released by Mark in the form of the podcast, documents Dan's listening to an extensive collection of cassette tapes, containing interviews from a high-rise apartment building in 1994.

Firstlife

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. She’s earned her rep as the craziest of crazies, but that doesn’t stop the torture. Ten can leave, but only if she allows her parents to choose where she’ll live—after she dies. There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death. In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the boy she’s falling for and the realm she wants to support. Who will she choose? Can she stay alive long enough to make a decision?

Golden Tomorrows

Returning home to Colorado after five seemingly endless years in a succession of eastern boarding schools, young Jessica Holleran quickly shed her thin veneer of ladylike behavior, and found herself immediately at odds with her guardian, tall, handsome rancher Dirk Hamilton. But as time passed, Jessie's feelings for Dirk changed from rage and resentment at his bullying ways to reluctant admiration, and finally to a passion she could not deny. Jessie vowed she'd win his heart, and share with him an eternity of...GOLDEN TOMORROWS.

Night Howl

Bobby loves his dog King, a playful German shepherd…until the day King turns and attacks him, snarling and vicious. The dog is put to sleep, but Bobby still sees him everywhere—in the garden, on the stairs, crouching, waiting. Then the horrific deaths begin—brutal, savage maulings. Terror grips the sleepy town of Fallsburg, and doors are nervously locked at night. For through the woods runs a dark shadow with dripping jaws, eluding pursuit with uncanny skill. Now, more than ever, the scientist down the road must guard the deadly secret of the monster they’ve unleashed.

Watching You

Marnie Logan often feels like she's being watched: a warm breath on the back of her neck, or a shadow in the corner of her eye that vanishes when she turns her head. She has reason to be frightened. Her husband Daniel has inexplicably vanished, and the police have no leads in the case. Without proof of death or evidence of foul play, she can't access his bank accounts or his life insurance. Depressed and increasingly desperate, she seeks the help of clinical psychologist Joe O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin is concerned by Marnie's reluctance to talk about the past and anxious to uncover what Marnie is withholding that could help with her treatment. The breakthrough in Marnie's therapy and Daniel's disappearance arrives when Marnie shares with O'Loughlin her discovery of the Big Red Book, a collage of pictures, interviews, and anecdotes from Marnie's friends and relatives that Daniel had been compiling as part of a surprise birthday gift. Daniel's explorations into Marnie's past led him to a shocking revelation on the eve of his disappearance: Anyone who has ever gotten close to Marnie has paid an exacting price. A cold-blooded killer is eliminating the people in Marnie's life, and now that O'Laughlin is a part of it, he is next in line.

Lifeguard

High risk, high reward: a $5 million heist is the perfect job for Ned Kelly. But when it all goes horribly wrong, he discovers a world of secrets and sabotage. Working as a lifeguard at a luxurious Florida resort, Ned Kelly meets the woman of his dreams. It feels perfect in every way-except that she’s used to caviar and Manolo Blahniks, and he’s used to burgers and flip-flops. So when Ned’s cousin offers to cut him in on a fast break-and-enter job, he can’t turn it down. The risk is high, and the reward is even greater-$5 million. But the robbery goes devastatingly wrong. Forced to run away from his town and the woman he’s fallen in love with, Ned knows that only distance and secrecy can save his life. But who is pursuing him? The FBI? Whoever sabotaged the heist? Or is it all somehow tied in to his new love-and his oldest enemies?

Lifeless

It appears that someone is targeting London's homeless community so DI Tom Thorne goes undercover among them. The information he gleans is that this is no random killer, it is someone with a specific list of victims.

Mountain of Winter

The contemporary chronicle of the life of a Finnish girl who owns and runs a Midwestern mountain farm with the help of her grandmother.

Faithless

The victim was buried alive in the Georgia woods–then killed in a horrifying fashion. When Sara Linton and Jeffrey Tolliver stumble upon the body, both become consumed with finding out who killed the pretty young woman. For them, a harrowing journey begins, one that will test their own turbulent relationship and draw dozens of life into the case. For as Jeffrey and Sara move further down a trail of shocking surprises and hidden passions, neither is prepared for the most stunning discovery of all: the identity of a killer who is more evil and dangerous than anyone could have guessed

Jauncey

Jauncey Taylor had big plans for the future with propery she had inherited in Wyoming--until she discovered that what her aunt had left her was a working bordello. When a former customer comes to call, she decides to turn the bawdy house into a boarding house.

Colour Blind

Even in the worst days of the recession, the McQueen family remain upbeat. They watch as their neighbours depart for the workhouse, their last pieces of furniture carted off by the bailiffs. But even though there might not be much on the table, the McQueen house constantly echoes with laughter. This is what keeps them strong - when all else fails, you can always laugh. Like many of the residents of the Fifteen Streets, the McQueens are as blunt as they are big-hearted. They are opinionated, and speak with no holds barred if anyone dare go against social convention. So imagine their shock when Bridget McQueen brings home her African husband...

Entombed

Workers demolishing a nineteenth-century brownstone where Edgar Allan Poe once lived discover a human skeleton entombed -- standing -- behind a brick wall. When sex crimes prosecutor Alexandra Cooper hears about the case, it strikes her as a classic Poe scene...except that forensic evidence shows that this young woman died within the last twenty-five years. Meanwhile, Alex's old nemesis the Silk Stocking Rapist is once again terrorizing Manhattan's Upper East Side. The attacks soon escalate to murder, and the search leads Alex and detectives Mercer Wallace and Mike Chapman to the city's stunning Bronx Botanical Gardens. There, an enigmatic librarian presides over the Raven Society, a group devoted to the work of Poe. In exploring the fabled writer's tormented life for clues, Alex will cross paths with a cunning killer and face some of the greatest challenges of her career. Entombed is masterful, exhilarating crime fiction from one of crime writing's most dazzling stars.

The Knight and the Rose

He is her only means of escape…Lady Johanna FitzHenry is trapped. Her arranged marriage to Sir Fulk de Enderby—a veteran of the wars against Robert the Bruce—keeps her tethered to this brutal man, who sees her only as a means to her father’s fortune. But now a daring scheme offers her a slim, but precious, chance at freedom: a complete stranger who, for his own desperate reasons, is willing to swear to the court that she was wed to him first... …But who is he? Though the ploy goes according to plan, her mysterious rescuer leaves many questions unanswered. He is a tall, attractive man who goes by the name of Gervase de Laval and claims to be a poor scholar. But Johanna’s attempt to discover the true identity of her hired husband will sweep her into the highest echelons of the English court—and into a dangerous passion she has never known before…

Tender Malice

Blessed with brains and beauty, Karen has created Mastermind--a computer program that can change the world. It has already changed hers. Suddenly she has a life beyond the computer screen--and two men who want to share it. Life should be perfect, but it's not. Someone wants Mastermind and will kill to get it. No one is safe and everyone's a suspect--even the people Karen loves most.

London Belles

London Belles is a tale of four very different young women thrown together by war. Finding freedom and independence – as well as love, passion and heartbreak – for the very first time, a unique bond is formed as the hostilities take their toll on Britain. Four lives. One war that will change them all. When tragedy strikes, Olive is forced to seek lodgers. Three girls come knocking at her door, each in need of a roof over their heads. Sally has left Liverpool to work as a nurse in London and when she arrives she is a shell of her former self. Where once stood a vivacious, sociable girl, now stands one plagued by homesickness and a betrayal that is devastatingly fresh in her mind. Dulcie is living the high life in the West End, a world away from her home in Stepney. Working at Selfridges gives her access to the most fashionable clothes and makeup, but at home she is the black sheep of the family; always second to her sister. So she decides it's time to make a bid for freedom. Agnes grew up in an orphanage, having been left on the steps as a new-born baby. But with war looming, and the orphanage relocating to the country, she must now seek out a job and lodgings. But with change comes exciting new opportunities, worlds away from the life she's known… As the women prepare for war, all of their futures hang in the balance. Soon their lives will change irrevocably and the home that binds the London Belles is no longer the sanctuary they once sought.